Snap hook



M. E. AMON May 20, 1969 I SNAP HOOK Filed Feb. 21, 1968 ll I52 4 *msswINVENTOR MAURICE E. AMON ATTORNEYS United States Patent "ice 3,444,599SNAP HOOK Maurice E. Amon, 45 Hume Hill Drive, Amherst, Ohio 44001 FiledFeb. 21, 1968, Ser. No. 707,044 Int. Cl. A44b 13/00 US. Cl. 24-236 4Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The invention is concerned with snaphooks for detachably supporting the ring of a saxophone or likeinstrument, and which hooks are characterized by the provision thereonof a flexible plastic arm on the hooks which is adapted to be flexed inone direction to permit the ring to be snappingly received in the bightof the hook, and to be flexed in the opposite direction to permit thering to be removed from the hook.

This invention relates, as indicated, to means for preventing oravoiding the dropping or falling of saxophones or like rnuscialinstruments by students and other players.

When a student is seated With a saxophone resting on his right thigh,and leaning forwardly to play it, the conventional hook, which issuspended from his neck, has a tendency to fall out of the ring which isattached to the rear of the saxophone and which normally rests on thehook, when the student is standing.

Since the student is usually unaware that the hook has become disengagedfrom the ring, he exerts a very loose grip on the instrument, so thatwhen he swings the instrument over to play, the instrument may fall ordrop onto the floor, with consequent damage to the instrument, as wellas interruption in the playing thereof.

In my US. Patent No. 3,354,522, conventional hooks of the foregoingnature are disclosed, having spring means associated therewith, whichspring means is effective to prevent the ring from becoming disengagedfrom the hook, except upon exertion of a slight pressure by the player,but in which the resistance oflered by the spring means is so slight asto permit the ring to be quickly and easily disengaged from the hook.Such spring means, however, is of somewhat complicated, as well asexpensive, construction, and difiiculty is encountered in properlyassembling the spring means with the hook.

The present invention is directed to the provision of means of thecharacter described, which, while accomplishing all of the objects ofthe foregoing patented means, is of considerably simpler construction,and is relatively easy to assemble with the conventional hook.

Another object of the invention is to provide means of the characterdescribed, which can be moved to an inoperative position in relation tothe hook, when so desired.

A further object of the invention is to provide means of the characterdescribed, which, in some forms, is a substantially integral part of thehook, or is so associated with the hook, as to form, in effect, a partof the hook. Other objects and advantages of my invention will beapparent during the course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, andin which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughoutthe same,

FIG. 1 is a view, in side elevation, of a hook such as is conventionallyused for supporting the ring of -a saxophone, and showing a preferredform of the means attached thereto;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view, taken on the line 2--2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view, taken on the line 33 of FIG. 1;

Patented May 20, 1969 FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 1, but showing amodified form of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view, taken on the line 55 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 1, but showing another modified form ofthe invention, and

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view, taken on the line 7-7 of FIG. 6.

Referring more particularly to FIGS. 1 to 3 inclusive of the drawings,there is disclosed a conventional hook such as is commonly used forsupporting the ring R of a saxophone, the cross-sectional configurationof the ring being shown in broken lines.

The hook, which is usually formed of steel wire, comprises a bodyportion or loop 1, disposed in a plane slightly inclined to thevertical, and which is adapted to be suspended from a strap supported bythe neck of the musician, a short substantially vertical shank portion2, and a ring-engaging bight 3, having an outwardly flared free endportion 4.

Frictionally secured to the shank portion 2 of the hook is an elementmolded of a soft plastic material, such, for example, as polyethylene,and consisting of an inverted conical portion 5 having an axial opening6, and spaced parallel flexible arms 7 and 8, which extend horizontallyfrom the upper end of the portion 5 and terminate short of the lower endof the flared portion 4 of the book.

The axial opening 6 in the portion 5 of the said conical element is ofsmaller diameter than the diameter of the wire of which the hook isformed, so that the element may be assembled with the hook by forcingthe portion 5 of the element over the flared end 4 of the hook, andslipping the element around the bight 3 of the hook and to the positionshown in FIG. 1.

With the plastic element installed on the hook in the manner shown, theends of the arms 7 and 8 are spaced from the point 9 of the hook adistance which is slightly less than the diameter of the cross-sectionof the ring R, so that when the ring is moved through the space betweenthe ends of the arms 7 and 8 and the point 9, a slight pressure isrequired to move the ring through this space, the arms 7 and 8 beingflexed downwardly to permit passage of the ring through the space, butresuming their original horizontal position after the ring has movedthrough this space. Upon removal of the ring from the hook, a similarslight pressure is required to move the ring upwardly through the spacein question, the arms 7 and 8 being flexed upwardly to permit passage ofthe ring through the space, but resuming their original horizontalposition after the ring has moved through this space.

The arms 7 and 8 are thus effective to prevent the ring from becomingdisengaged from the hook, except upon exertion of a slight pressure bythe player, yet the resistance of these arms to such pressure is soslight as to permit the ring to be quickly and easily disengaged fromthe hook. As a result, the musician has more freedom of movement of hisinstrument, without fear of dropping or falling of the instrument, dueto inadvertent disengagement of the ring from the hook.

The plastic element, as thus described, is of simple construction, canbe molded, at low cost, in large quantities, and is relatively easy toassemble with any conventional hook of the character described.

At times when it is not desired to use the plastic element for thepurpose described, it can be rotated horizontally about the shank 2,degrees, to an inoperative position, and without the necessity ofremoving it entirely from the hook.

The pressure required to move the ring into and out of the hook may bevaried or adjusted by bending the flared portion 4 of the hook inwardlyor outwardly in relation to the arms 7 and 8, so as to vary the spacingbetween the ends of these arms and the flared portion of the hook.

In FIGS. 4 and 5, a modified form of the invention is shown, in which ahook, such as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, is coated "with a coating 10 ofplastic material, such as polyethylene, which covers the shank 2, bight3, and flared portion 4 of the hook.

At the same time that the coating is deposited on the hook, a flexiblearm 11 is provided, as a part of the coating, this arm extendinghorizontally to a point short of the base of the flared portion of thehook, this base being indicated by reference numeral 12.

The end of the arm 11 is spaced from the point 12 of the hook a distancewhich is slightly less than the diameter of the cross-section of thering R, so that when the ring is moved through the space between the endof the arm 11 and the point 12, a slight pressure is required to movethe ring through this space, the arm 11 being flexed downsociated withthe hook as to form, in effect, a part of the hook.

Moreover, the coating 10 is advantageous in that it has more frictionalresistance to movement of the ring along the coating than does the barewire, thus acting to reduce or minimize the chances of the ring slippingoff the hook.

In FIGS. 6 and 7, another modified form of the invention is shown, inwhich the entire hook is molded of a soft plastic material, as, forexample, polyethylene.

In molding the hook to provide the loop 1, shank 2, bight 3 and flaredend 4, a somewhat flexible arm 13, similar to the arm 11, is molded asan integral part of the hook, this arm extending horizontally from theshank 1 to a point short of the base 14 of the flared end 4.

Since the bight and flared end has a certain degree of flexibility, thehook, in this instance, preferably has a design, such as shown in FIGS.6 and 7, which is slightly different from that of the hooks in thepreviously de- 1 scribed forms of the invention.

The end of the arm 13 is spaced from the point 14 of the hook a distancewhich is slightly less than the diameter of the cross-section of thering R, so that when the ring is moved through the space between the endof the arm 13 and the point 14, a slight pressure is required to movethe ring through this space, the arm 13 being flexed slightly downwardlyto permit passage of the ring through the space, but resuming itsoriginal horizontal position after the ring has passed through thisspace. Upon removal of the ring from the hook, a similar slight pressureis required to move the ring upwardly through the space in question, thearm 3 being flexed upwardly to permit passage of the ring through thisspace, but resuming its original horizontal position after the ring hasmoved through this space,

Since the hook in its entirety is made of a plastic material, it has thesame advantages as the coating 10 in that it has more frictionalresistance to movement of the ring along the hook than does a metalwire, thus acting to reduce or minimize the chances of the ring slippingoff the hook. 7

Moreover, since the bight and flared end of the hook have a certaindegree of flexibility, the arm 13 can be extended almost to the point14, since the ring, in passing through the space between the arm andflared end of the hook can act to spring or spread the arm 13 and flaredend away from each other to permit passage of the ring into and out ofthe hook.

It is to be understood that the forms of my invention, herewith shownand described, are to be taken as preferred examples of the same, andthat various changes may be made in the shape, size and arrangement ofparts thereof, without departing from the spirit of the invention or thescope of the subjoined claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In combination with a hook having a loop portion, a shank portion, abight portion, and an outwardly flared free end portion extending fromsaid bight portion, said hook adapted to receive the suspending ring ofa saxophone or like musical instrument, means for preventing accidentaldisengagement of said ring from said hook, said means consisting of aconical plastic element frictionally secured to said shank and having anarm extending substantially horizontally from the upper end of saidconical portion toward said flared end portion of the hook andterminating at a point spaced from substantially the base of said flaredend portion, said arm being flexible to permit said ring to be receivedwithin the bight portion of the hook through the space between the endportion of the arm and the base of said flared portion of the hook.

2. The combination, as recited in claim 1, wherein a second arm extendsfrom the upper end of said conical portion in spaced parallel relationwith said first arm.

3. A device of the character described, adapted to be frictionallysecured to a saxophone supporting hook, said device molded of a singlepiece of plastic material and comprising a conical portion having anaxial passageway therethrough, and a flexible arm extending from thelarger end of said conical portion and in a direction substantially inthe plane of said larger end, said flexible arm being bifurcated at itsend, said device being adapted to be mounted on said hook with saidflexible arm acting as a means for preventing accidental disengagementof an engaged element from said hook.

4. A device, as defined in claim 3, wherein a second flexible armextends from the larger end of said conical portion in spaced parallelrelation with said first arm.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 295,390 3/1884 Havell 24-236509,747 11/ 1893 Mauk 24236 639,309 12/ 1899 Stewart. 2,787,435 4/ 1957Shields. 2,873,867 2/1959 Brooks 24236 X 3,354,522 11/1967 Amon 24236FOREIGN PATENTS 626,941 10/ 1961 Italy. 138,228 11/1952. Sweden.

BERNARD A. GELAK, Primary Examiner.

